Where should Sam Langford be ranked as an all-time heavyweight ?

A great great fighter ,but I find him very hard to classify ,as to weight was he a Heavy? or really a terrific Light Heavy? Johnson allways said he had the defensive ability to tie up Langford and neutralise his power,be that as it may both of them improved and matured ophysically after their encounter,Langford ,no doubt deserved a shot,whether he would have been successful is a matter of opinion.On a side note ,Johnson rated Mcvey the better of the "Sam's " ,but that may well have been a smoke screen ,as he was pretty sure of beating him.

 

I honestly don't care if someone wins the championship or not. I rate Langford just outside my top 10 around Schmeling, Wills, Jeffries, Charles.

 

Langford is just outside the top 10 or just inside it and the only reason that he is not ranked higher might simply be that he never had the chance to prove it.

As an all round package Lanfgord prety much had everything. He had all time great finishing ability, ring inteligence, mobility, all time great durability. He was like a miniture hybrid of Jack Dempsey and Jersey Joe Walcott.

If we dont take into acount his physical limitations then he was the most complete heavyweight package of all time.

As a finisher Langford is among the absolute elite of all time heavyweights allong with Bob Fitzsimmons, Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis, and Mike Tyson. For my money he might have been the best of the lot in terms of, who would punish you the most for a single mistake and manufacture one if you didnt make it.

 

#16-#20.

 

a) I personaly have Langford higher though there is not much in it. For my money Langford went through the black dynamite crew while they were at their absolute peaks while Wills put the tin lid on matters when they were declining. Also Langford fought to a more punishing schedule.

Having said that there is only a couple of places between them either way and if sombody has Wills higher they are being realistic.

b)I have Dempsey higher due to his level of dominance at his peak.

This has to be seen in light of the ridiculous schedule Langford had to fight to however. If he had the same advantages as Dempsey he might have been at that sort of level or even higher.

 

I think its more than possible Langford went into some fights" handcuffed ",I don't beleive this was true of Wills.Given there was around 8 inches disparity in height and roughly 40 lbs in weight Langfords early wins over the very good but perhaps not peaked Wills look even better with hindsight.

 

On the flipside janitor, you can look it at like a very inexperience green wills put the tin lid on matters when they were FAR MORE experienced. wills was thrown to the best wolves early and came out on top.

 

langford and jenette were very much at/near there prime when a green harry wills beat them in 1913 and 1914

 

i dont know where i'd put langford on the top ten list but he'd definetly be up there. i have him #1 p4p.
also langford could have beaten anybody from ali to lewis. i bet most of you are thinking...maybe ali but not lewis. lewis is too big. and how can such a small man generate so much power?

in terms of skill, langford would have very little problem getting through to ali with his punches or on lewis. this guy was an expert at fighting larger foes.
but people dont seem to understand how hard this guy could hit.
i'll try and explain.

if you have a look at the pictures in the sam langford book by clay moyle, you cant help but notice how broad he was, quite extradordinary. his upperbody was like a heavyweights, easily!
this is where alot of his power came from, he was also freakishly strong, you could see this just by looking at the way he was build. theres a picture of langford standing alongside alot of men, and he stands out simply becos of his broadness.

alot of his top calibre opponents said that they never had been hit harder before or since. gunboat smith said that langford destroyed him, he went on to say that he was never the same fighter again. iron hague was also destroyed by langford, who sam knocked spark out with one punch which lifted him of the canvas. hague lost his confidence from then on and started losing to opponents whom he previously beat.
jim flynn who had fought everyone from johnson to dempsey said that langford not only was the best fighter he faced but the hardest puncher of them all!

wills also said langford was the best fighter he fought and his punches were extremly powerful. he went on to say that of all the hardest punchers he faced, there best shots were nutting compared to langfords punches.

i can go on but you must realise that this guy was no joke when it came to power and especially his skill!